


Flora and Fauna: Neville and Luna's Tale

by Floralfluxcapacitor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Magic, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-09 23:18:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2001852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floralfluxcapacitor/pseuds/Floralfluxcapacitor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Under Umbridge's violent reign the halls of Hogwarts have been stripped bare of love and affection, Chapter by Chapter this story follows two unlikely fighters, Neville and Luna, as they wage their own little war on the Inquisitorial Squad. They face romance, pain and magic that transcends the walls of Hogwarts itself. Follow Neville, the unsung hero, as he and his Luna save the day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Luna and the Floo Fae

Chapter One – Luna and the Floo Fae.

 

If you were to wonder through the Hogwarts grounds, not the rolling open hills so incessantly frequented by Hogwarts students but the shadowy areas, the space behind the wamping willow, now battered and gnarled, or the fringes of the forbidden forest, you would find her. Luna.

 

At that moment she was crouched within the ruins of an old barn that had kept thestrals back before Hagrid had trained them, the students rarely went there because the place had the eerie quality of creatures who were seen only by death's witnesses. But Luna did not mind. She was not, at that moment, looking for the crumple horned snorcack. She was squatting low, hands outstretched, with pixies dancing on her fingers. These were not the pesky Cornish pixies Lockhart had freed in her first year, this were a far more noble race. These were the indigenous pixies who hid among the relics of the wizarding world, who were sometimes found fossilised by muggles and would create stirrings of controversy with muggle historians.

 

They were finer, daintier with hoary grey wings like cobwebs and spindly limbs. They relished the warmth of Luna's fingers, latent so long among the chilly ruins. But if Luna moved too quickly they would dissipate into dry dust and fly away on the breeze. Xenopheleus had told her:

“fine friends makes the Floo Faeries, but don't antagonise them Luna, ever. They make powerful foes.”

 

Neville Longbottom had been looking for the Monday flower, for Herbological reasons, but unfortunately it was irreconcilably a Sunday, so his chances were slim, that didn't stop him. His search brought him to the stable were Luna was crouched and from a crumbling archway he peered in. in the Sunday dusk, light filtered in through the cracks in the rafters and amongst a confetti of dust mots she crouched in the light peering at her own hands like they were the eighth wonder. It took Neville a minute to see the pixies. One was nestled into her tumbling blonde hair, leaving dust in her tresses as it made itself at home. She was covered in pixie dust, her green jumper, already bedraggled, was now covered in the stuff, and her satchel... Neville looked closer and saw that with her free hand Luna was gently scooping up the dust the pixies left behind and putting it in her satchel.

 

At exactly the wrong moment Neville leaned against a creaking wooden hinge and alerted Luna of his presence. The pixies flew up into the rafters with a shower of yet more dust. Luna swiftly got to her feet, her wide eyes wider in surprise and a little fear.

“who's there?” her sing song voice chimed with alarm and suspicion.

Neville stepped reluctantly out from the doorway

“Neville.”

she pressed a finger to her lips and quite to Neville's surprise she took his hand and crouched with him once more.

Lifting her face to the rafters she said “it's okay, it's just Neville, the least alarming of surprises...”

_Just Neville. Always just Neville_

“what are you doing?” he hesitantly inquired, it seemed the most suitable question.

“what are you doing?” she deflected.

“looking for the Monday flower.” 

“but it's Sunday.”

“I know.”

“you looked anyway?”

“I couldn't just... not look...”

“floo powder.”

“what?”

now Neville was confused(er)

“have you ever wondered where floo powder comes from?”

“I guess I haven't...”

“when I was six I trod on a pixie accidentally and it turned my whole left foot to stone up to my knee cap.”

it occurred to Neville that this conversation was very hard to follow

“but you're left leg is normal now.”

“yes it is. Luckily my father knew an affective counter charm”

“...you were talking about floo powder?” said Neville quizzically in an attempt to steer the conversation back on track.

“yes, well, the Floo Pixies, they produce floo power, but nowadays what with the high demand they are often battery farmed. It's brutal and inhumane, so as well as regular petitioning my family always humanely collects their own floo powder, but don't tell anyone because professor Umbridge has banned it...”

this was the most Neville had ever heard Luna say, it occurred to her that apart from her erratic subject changes nothing she had said rendered her befitting of the name “Loony Lovegood”

“stay very still for a minute.” she was whispering now.

Her blue eyes were trained on his right shoulder and as he cast his eyes down to his jacket he saw a delicate little figure perched their, already shedding floo powder. Ancient grey eyes stared back at him and he felt the weight of the ages on his shoulders, manifested in a creature the six inches tall.

She was staring at him, but he was not uncomfortable with her prominent blue eyes trained on him.

“they like you, you're gentle.”

“how did you know where to find them?”

“I guess I know where to look, you can find friends in the flora and fauna if not in Hogwarts itself”

Neville cast his eyes down, there was a solemn beauty in that, he thought, and felt a pang of anguished guilt for any time the bashful Griffyndors had laughed about Loony Lovegood's wild habits.

Luna gave a sudden squeak of surprise as a Floo pixie boldly pulled a tiny fist full of hair towards Neville. In her crouched position Luna lost her balance and fell forward onto her knees so he was closer to her than he'd ever been.

He felt like he should be self conscious but this was such a private, magical moment he didn't dare.

It was queer, he thought that in a school so teaming with magic, he was still awed by nothing more than a few stolen seconds with a strange girl and her fae friends.


	2. The Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neville lands himself in trouble with Malfoy and there is only one person around to fish him out of it. Neville and Luna encounter the contents of Hogwarts' infamous lake.

Chapter 2

Neville, although he wouldn't admit it to himself, was looking for her again. Maybe, he thought, she was like the room of requirement. He had tried the stables and although he could almost sense the Floo Pixies staring from the rafters, her quiet, quizzical presence was not to be felt. No he was wondering between the forests ominous borders and the marshy terrain preceding the lake. 

Suddenly shouts prevailed upon his ears, not anything from Luna, these were male voices. Subconsciously Neville softened his tread as much he could as he made his way further into the trees. He trecked a little way through the trees, carefully by-passing the enormous limbs the trees had thrown about the place in slumberous abandon. He followed the obnoxious laughter. 

When he was little his grandmother had told him, as a rare compliment, that he had green fingers. His first sign of magic had been when the flowers he'd been playing in had suddenly shot up and grown huge, bulbous heads which moved even on a breeze-less day. 

When he got to the clearing Neville knew something was wrong. He immediately spotted the malicious gleam of blonde hair lingering on the edge of the clearing. Malfoy. He crouched suddenly so he could see but not be seen seeing. It was Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, standing next to what Neville knew to be a Verita Tree. Verita Trees were a very rare form of spirit, static for centuries, taking the form of towering trees, rooted in reality, protected by the Ministry of Magic. Malfoy was massacring them, with the help of his goons.   
“Diffindo!” Malfoy raised his wand and aimed at an ancient looking Verita Tree. His severing spell hit the tree which caved inwards, recoiling from the impact. Neville watched in horror as the tree's bark was blasted off and it fell to the ground with an audible screech of pain as Malfoy skinned it.  
“Umbridge'll have a field day” Crabbe and Goyle were gleeful as they stashed the valuable bark. Neville realised it must have been due to Umbridge's commissioning that the Slytherins were killing them. Verita Trees were famously sought after because of their use in Veritaserum, Umbridge's favourite means of forcefully exploiting her students. 

Malfoy laughed, basking in Crabbe and Goyle's dire admiration at his violence. He raised his wand to disembowel another tree but Neville couldn't take it anymore, without even thinking about it he was shouting “expelliarmus!” and malfoy was spinning to the ground and his wand was torn from his hand and Crabbe and Goyle had spotted him where he hid. “Expelliarmus!” Neville tried again desperately, this time aiming at the rapidly attacking Crabbe and Goyle. Although the spell hit Crabbe it had no affect and Neville realised in panicked dismay that both the thugs had discarded their wands of their own accord and were instead rolling up their sleeves menacingly. Before he knew it Goyle had darted (as swifly as a boy of his immense size could dart) behind him placed a tree trunk sized arm around his neck. Although Neville exceeded Goyle in height it was two against one. Malfoy at this point had recovered and was looking at Neville with a mixture of hatred and amusment. He slowly reached out and took Neville's wand from the ground.   
“Longbottom.”  
“Malfoy.” Neville croaked.  
“You spying on us Longbottom?”  
“They're ministry protected” Neville managed to choke out   
“What the bloody trees?”  
Neville tried a nod  
“I hardly think you're in a position to be concerned about the trees, Longbottom. Besides, we are, indirectly, commissioned by a branch of the ministry. No pun intended.”  
he felt Goyle shake with laughter, at the expense of his airways.   
“what will happen to him, boys?” Malfoy asked “a swim perhaps?”

 

Malfoy laughed and punched him in the face. 

When Neville's vision cleared he was being pushed through the last of the trees, onto the marshy outskirts of the Hogwarts lake. 

That was when he saw her. 

She looked up in surprise as the three Slytherins and the trouble-steeped Gryffindor stumbled out onto the bank. Malfoy was the first to notice her. 

“Well if it isn't Loony Lovegood, come to enjoy the show?”  
Luna spoke quietly so that Crabbe and Goyle were forced to stifle their sniggers.   
“what's going on?”  
Malfoy stepped close to her, a little too close, but although Luna's eyes widened she did not flinch.   
“Longbottom here made and unwarranted attack on us while we undertook our ministerial duties”.  
“and?” this was remarkably direct for Luna  
“we thought we would take justice into our own very capable hands. Throw him in the lake.”  
Neville knew this was not to be a ritual soaking, that would be very deviant from Malfoy's style. The Hogwarts lake was not to be taken lightly, in its shallows, and in its depths, lurked unimaginable beasts and monsters.   
Goyle, with the help of Crabbe, began to wrestle Neville, lanky limbs flailing, to the edge of the lake.   
“Draco stop!”   
everyone blanched. Luna had called Malfoy by his first name, which was not at all customary but got his attention.   
“I... I won't let you.”  
there was a stunned silence as Luna drew herself up to her full height, brought her wand up and pointed it at his chest. Malfoy, once again, gave a derisive laugh.  
“Isn't that sweet, the crazies are standing up for each other, well if you have a death wish too Lovegood then what can I say, I aim to please.”  
with a very casual flick of his wand Malfoy send an incarceration curse flying at Luna but, surprisingly quickly she defected it. Malfoy blanched at she sent back another one which he almost failed to deflect. Neville struggled in Goyle's grip in his efforts to help Luna and with a resounding and satisfying crack he head butted Goyle squarely in the nose, freeing himself.   
This did not have the desired affect. Neville ran towards Luna and in the split second it took for Luna to make eye contact with him Malfoy gained the upper hand and cuffed Luna's shoulder with a stunning spell. It was enough to send her sprawling.   
“Stupify! Stupify!” Neville was so angry he could barely get the words out, so angry the spell was not working... he was desperate, so panicked he couldn't concentrate sufficiently  
“Give it up, Longbottom. You're nothing but a pathetic Squib”  
Malfoy was dragging the groggy Luna to her feet and now pulling her by the hair towards the edge of the lake and as Neville watched he heard “levicorpus!” from behind him, turning just as the spell hit him hard in the chest.   
“Longbottom can watch his girlfriend go for a swim”  
all Neville could think as he hung helpless upside down was that Luna could never be his girlfriend, she was too pretty...  
Malfoy held Luna by the shoulders and was seconds away from pushing her into the lake when a scream that almost transcended human hearing pierced all their ears.   
Neville watched as a figure sprang from the waters of the lake.  
It was a mermaid. 

Her talons were the first and most immediate threat, not what one would perhaps expect of a mermaid, but nevertheless their main hunting tool. Her tale too was not, as mythology indicated, humanly proportioned, but a long powerful thing which she whipped vehemently, frothing the lake's waters into foam. Her hair flared, showing no signed of being water logged and her face was entriely inhuman. Shark's teeth. Neville noted. Her long claws gripped the river bank and Neville watched in awe as her tail lashed around and swept Draco off his feet and into the shallows of the lake. Crabbe and Goyle withdrew their attention from Neville and Luna and ran to help fish out Malfoy before any of the lakes inhabitants noticed him. 

Neville was willing to run immediately while they were off the hook, but Luna lingered painfully behind.   
“Aerwyna?”  
the lake still frothed, it's waters agitated... further up the bank they could see Malfoy sloshing out of the lake and commencing a sopping wet sprint away from the lake in fear.   
“Aerwyna?”  
a head arose from the waters, eyes like a fish but more alive, and streaming blue hair.   
Her voice was low and rasping, like the a wave coming in  
“My Luna... My Moonchild”  
“Thank you so much Aerwyna, that could've got nasty.”  
Neville marvelled, this was yet more of Hogwart's wild inhabitants that Luna had connected with.   
“Why were those Sons of Salazar trying to hurt you, child?”  
“well I was protecting Neville here and....”  
Aerwyna cast her cold aqua eyes on Neville fleetingly,   
“a child of Rowena protecting a child of Gryffindor... “  
Aerwyna was already sinking back into the lake's depths  
“Thank you Aerwyna! How can I repay you?” shouted Luna again.  
“There is much you can do to repay me, Moonchild...”  
and with that the mermaid was gone. 

 

NEXT CHAPTER COMING SOON. PLEASE REVIEW. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING <3


	3. Lakes and Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neville's relationship with Luna blossoms further after an escapade with Malfoy and his thugs, a blessing in disguise...

Lakes and Consequences. 

Neville's grandmother, with a firm, ring bound, gnarled hand, had taught him chivalry. He helped Luna to her feet were she still knelt, soaking on the bank of the Hogwarts lake.   
“you're cold, Luna, let me...” he went to take off his jacket but was startled when she first began to take off her sopping t-shirt which was sticking to her. He blanched at the sight of her pale torso suddenly exposed and immediately turned away awkwardly removing his jumper and holding it out behind him without looking. Luna didn't seem to understand his awkwardness, Xenophelius had raised her not to feel ashamed or self conscious, he said all bodies were the same except some were more fragile. When Luna had shrugged safely into his jumper he turned back around and immediately blushed afresh as his grandmother's poor excuse for an orange cable knit hung loosely from Luna's shaking shoulders and swamped her hands in it's garish orange folds. She stared at him and then smiled very unexpectedly.   
“so what was that all about? They seemed pretty upset with you...”  
At this Neville could only laugh because he had never encountered a girl who could brush off a dunking in Hogwarts lake so bashfully and with such wild understatements. Then he remembered what Malfoy had been doing to the Verita tree and frowned.   
“they were poaching from the Verita Trees.”  
Luna's wide eyes grew solemn and her quizzical smile faded.   
“how dare they?”  
“are you ok?” he shot back, watching her hug herself.   
“just a little startled, that's all...”  
without thinking he hugged her.   
That self conscious part of him, the part of him that minded being the constant butt of every joke, was scared lest she might withdraw from his embrace, tell him he shouldn't go near her. But he was surprised and delighted when she hugged him back, drawing from his warmth. Her head rested on his shoulder and her didn't mind in the slightest when her hair dripped on his shirt.  
“we'll get them back, Luna, you and me.”

 

later:

she had kept the jumper which he was very glad about because it was an excuse to see her. He liked seeing her wear it, it linked the two of them and he liked the way her narrow fingers subconsciously played with the frayed sleeves and the way it would smell of her afterwards. Was he creepy? Maybe. Did he care? Probably not.   
“Hello Clarissa” he smiled sheepishly up at the Fat Lady, you'd be surprised how few Griffyndors actually bothered to learn her real name, and consequently she harboured a secret soft spot for Neville to the extent that Fred and George had started to ask when their engagement was.  
“Neville, darling, what by in the name of the Nargles have you been up to?!” Neville smiled at the mention of Nargles  
“I was... held up with a girl.”  
“Neville! Dear boy do you mean to say you are courting? Why by Merlin's beard did you not tell me earlier I could have given you tips!”  
“I don't know if she likes me, Clarissa, I'm... I'm “just Neville”.”  
“Neville she'd be mad not to. Not a Slytherin is she?”  
He thought of how pure and good Luna was.   
“She's the kindest girl I know”   
the fat lady cocked her head, crooned and fussily rearranged the ruffles on her meringue shaped dress  
“Neville you've been the sweetest little dumpling since first year, I know you'll do right by her and if she has any sense she'll see what a dear you are.”  
“Thanks Clarissa.”  
He paused  
“I may have forgotten the password though...”  
she tutted and told him to straighten his collar before swinging open to reveal the Griffyndor common room. 

That night Neville sat in a warm corner of the common room eating toast and only speaking fleetingly to Seamus who asked why he was only wearing a shirt in December. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He wondered why all the other boys (and some girls) weren't constantly hung up on Luna Lovegood. He tried to logically list all the things that made him like her.   
1\. Her gentleness.  
2\. Her affinity with the flora and fauna of Hogwarts.  
3\. Her tousled blonde hair, part of which she seemed to have once intricately plaited before leaving it entirely to its own devices.  
4\. Her large green grey eyes.  
5\. Her timid but very caring smile.  
6\. Her Irishness.  
7\. The way she was subtly a genius.  
8\. Her boundless capacity for belief, whether it be in the mythical, in herself or in others.  
9\. |Her laugh.  
10\. Her courage, not brash like Griffyndor, but the hidden fire he'd seen only a flash of today.

 

Still later:

something went bump in the night. Seamus had made him watch Paranormal Activity and although at first he scoffed at the Muggles twisted televisation of poltergeists and ghosts it had creeped him out just enough that he opened sleep clouded eyes when he heard the floor boards creaking. He shuffled as quietly as he could into half a sitting position. Neville's blood ran cold and his heart gave a frantic leap in his chest when he saw a skulking figure enter the dormitory and loom over his bed...


End file.
